This recipe belonged to my grandmother, whom passed in 2008. I've had difficulty getting the pastry just so. I want to share this, though, because if you are great at figuring out difficult dough recipes, maybe this is a challenge for you. Not quite difficult, yet the dough is dense and rather sticky to the point of you'll have a major mess on your hands, which is when I get frustrated and stop. I so wish now I had paid attention to my Grandmother when she made these. My grandfather jokes now how she used to get so mad when the dough wouldn't work, so I know I am not alone in my frustrations...
The treats are sweet and a bit savory, they look kind of like crescent rolls, but are far from them. The key to making them sweet is the filling, either apricot or cherry, which is what we are used to.
Ingredients:
1 LB. Crisco (actually calls for OLEO, which I learned is an old fashioned form of Crisco, and/or lard)
1 C. Sour Cream
4 C. Flour
1 Cake of Fresh Active Yeast
1/4 C. warm milk
3 Egg Yolks (Reserve egg whites for glaze)
1 Can of Solo Cake/Pastry Filling (Apricot, Cherry, etc)
Sugar is to be on hand.
Before I get into the directions, let's talk about cake yeast! I had no idea what this was, and it is NOT the active dry yeast, typical for bread making. This is what it looks like:
I found this, not easily, in the refrigerated egg/butter section at Albertson's. I had searched high and low at Safeway and Fry's before feeling like all hope was lost. Ask for Fresh Active Yeast, if you need to ask forassistance, and tell them it is refrigerated, its not with the other yeast, it is a living yeast and is so by being in the coolers!
Ok, now onto the directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F.
2) Mix the cake of yeast with the warm milk now, yeast should dissolve nicely into the milk.
3) Mix Crisco and Flour as for pie crust-meaning if you know how to make pie crust, the end result of combining the Crisco and Flour should leave you with pea sized crumbles. Pretty much you are using your hands and kind of pinching the flour and Crisco together to make the crumbles.
4) In a separate bowl, mix together the egg yolks, sour cream, and yeast/milk mixture, lightly whisk this together to incorporate all ingredients. Fold the egg yolk mixture inot the flour mixture with a wooden spoon or spatula. Once you have a well mixed dough, cut dough in half, and wrap individually in plastic wrap.
5) Refrigerate overnight.
6) Roll out dough to 1/8" thickness, onto a hard surface coated with granulated sugar and flour to help keep dough from sticking, the sugar is what sweetens the bread. Make sure your rolling pin is covered in flour as well to help from further sticking.
7) Once dough is at 1/8" thickness, cut into 2" squares. This is really an eyeball thing, as they squares should be large enough to hold 1 tsp. of filling. Place filling in center of square, and then take one corner of square, and begin rolling towards diagonal corner. Shape the rolled dough into a crescent shape, and place onto a greased cookie sheet.
8) Once you've filled your tray with the Kiflis, brush with your reserved egg whites to lightly coat, this helps create the pretty sheen. Bake for 10-12 minutes and/or until they are golden. Once Kifli is out of the oven, sprinkle with granulated sugar.
I will attempt to create this yet again, and will post pics of completed and/or camera ready Kifli!
Enjoy!